Our cultural community: each child brings in pictures of flags, food, expressions, etc related to where their families are from and create a one-page size poster that represents them (really cool to see how many similar flags show up, and how kids start conversations based on this). Celebration of similarities, not only differences.
Perhaps create an ebook or bind posters created by students during previous session.
Introduction to REACH: Using cut-out letters, divide the class into 5 groups. Each group receives an envelope with the letters for one of our REACH words (Responsibility, Empathy, etc). The groups have to form as many 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 letter words as possible, recording them as they go along. The idea is that when they get to the longer words, they will notice that the letters form certain words perfectly. Later, the kids can "travel" to the other groups (the whole class can "travel" together) to visit the other words. Whole class can talk about the importance/meaning of the words, and share other words that relate to the topic.
Make your own avatar with stencils and colored paper (moving from sharing about your family to sharing about yourself)
Qualities of a friend, what it means to be a friend.And it is also normal for friendships to change, as students grow, develop new interests and experiences.
To illustrate this concept under discussion, I draw a bulls eye on the white board with the inner most circle representing yourself. ao In the concentric circles around the center are bands representing friendships at different levels of closeness. I ask the class to describe what close friends are etc. the outer circle are acquaintances. I then erase parts of the circle lines to represent that the membrane is permeable and friends become closer or more distant through various means, which we discuss. The point of this visual is to help students see that friendship is not a black or white issue and that friendships change and evolve throughout life. Students do not need to see that they are loosing friends; more realistically, they are finding friends that support the person they are becoming, and this is normal.
Introduction to REACH: Using cut-out letters, divide the class into 5 groups. Each group receives an envelope with the letters for one of our REACH words (Responsibility, Empathy, etc). The groups have to form as many 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 letter words as possible, recording them as they go along. The idea is that when they get to the longer words, they will notice that the letters form certain words perfectly. Later, the kids can "travel" to the other groups (the whole class can "travel" together) to visit the other words. Whole class can talk about the importance/meaning of the words, and share other words that relate to the topic.
Qualities of a friend, what it means to be a friend.And it is also normal for friendships to change, as students grow, develop new interests and experiences.
To illustrate this concept under discussion, I draw a bulls eye on the white board with the inner most circle representing yourself. ao In the concentric circles around the center are bands representing friendships at different levels of closeness. I ask the class to describe what close friends are etc. the outer circle are acquaintances. I then erase parts of the circle lines to represent that the membrane is permeable and friends become closer or more distant through various means, which we discuss. The point of this visual is to help students see that friendship is not a black or white issue and that friendships change and evolve throughout life. Students do not need to see that they are loosing friends; more realistically, they are finding friends that support the person they are becoming, and this is normal.